Don't I Know You?
by IHKF
Summary: It's been nine years and through lots of sweat and tears, Ayumi hasn't thought about a romantic relationship with Conan for eight of them. But when her feelings come back to nip at her once again, she's got to start sweating and crying to keep her friendship with him in tact. Maybe playing matchmaker with her friends will help?
1. Prologue

"_Ayumi-chan, could we talk?"_

_Ayumi blinked and turned to face him. Haibara glanced at the watch on her wrist and nodded. "The movie starts in fifteen minutes. You have enough time."_

_It was with an almost pointed glare that Haibara forced Genta and Mitsuhiko to turn around, and though they still stood strong against her for all of a minute (quite a leap compared to what their durability used to be), they were eventually pushed back into the movie theater to receive refreshments for the group of five. Ayumi shuffled her feet and folded her hands behind her back, giving an air of bashfulness about her. "What is it that you needed to talk about, Conan-kun?"_

_Perhaps she realized in the back of her mind that there was something wrong. He wasn't smiling (not that he usually walked around with an strange, unjustified grin plastered on his face), and the way he stuck his hands into his pockets and breathed with a hint of uneasiness made her, in turn, feel queasy. Conan was attempting to ease his way into something. But the thought did not occur to her that the scene was eerie, in fact, she'd had her hopes rather high. It was a bit romantic to her, the entire set-up. The air was humid and drops of rain that grew life dripped from roofs with waterspouts where they collected. The sky was a shade of grey with just a bit of blue peeking out from behind the sullen clouds, acting as an agent of the looming sun. The streets and sidewalks were slicked over in glossy puddles of water, every now and then crossed over and splashed (but remained for the most part undisturbed). A request to speak with her alone, under the blinking lights of the theater, was the dreamiest thing she could picture seeing as Conan was there._

_It was with a heavy heart that he became broodingly wordy._

_He rambled on and on about this and that (types of people and times and friends and years- heaven knows where that came from), but eventually he said one thing._

"_I'm sorry. Ran-neechan is… special."_

"_Ah…"_

_She was about to say something, but as her hands now fiddled with her skirt at her sides, nothing came to mind. What was there to say?_

_Clearly Conan had been torn up about saying anything at all. She was his friend and she knew it. He just proved it to her, not through kind words or comfort, but through the honesty of a secret. He liked Ran-neechan. He trusted her with that although he knew it would hurt her to know. That was the best a friend could ask for, so as she hurriedly skipped by him, she twisted around and left him with a few words._

"_Thank you for telling me, Conan-kun!"_

_She didn't see that movie, which wasn't a huge loss because it wasn't something she'd been waiting for, she supposed._

* * *

"Come on! What are you waiting for, stupid?! Let's hurry so we can get the best seats!"

"Oi, oi! Ayumi-chan! You're pulling my arm a little hard, aren't you?"

"Stop being such a baby! You've been roughed up worse!"

Conan let a disgruntled breath slip through his mouth with the volume of a megaphone. Desperately struggling to rip his arm free of Ayumi's grip, he dug his heels into the ground. Unfortunately the force amounted to nothing against Ayumi's pull. The years had been kind to her strength, as apparent by the bruises he was certain he would have on his lower arm.

"Hah, hah! Conan-kun's whipped!"

Mitsuhiko pointed and laughed alongside Genta, who took the privilege of making the humiliating sounds.

"Whoo-psh~! Whoo-psh~!" Haibara smirked and made the sharp imitation of expending a whip in her hand.

"Shut up!"

Ayumi, ever-oblivious to the mockery her other friends were making of Conan, reached the counter and finally released him. He was unprepared and the sudden lack of a pull made his pushing work against him, sending him straight into the floor. "Could I have three large bags of popcorn, five sodas and two bags of gummies?"

The cashier nodded and began the process of retrieving the ordered food.

With a jump in her step, Ayumi twisted around ever-so-innocently hands folded like a child behind her back. "Do you guys want anything?"

The question swept a long, awkward air across the team.

Genta took in a shallow breath. "Please tell me you're joking." Ayumi's nose scrunched up in annoyance as she crossed her arms across her chest and nodded. "Of course!"

There was a sense of relief in the atmosphere.

Mitsuhiko was the first to laugh it off. "Thank goodness. You're the one who got Genta on a diet. I'd imagine you'd be the last to break down like that!"

"I'm the healthiest out of all of you! I'm a little insulted you all believed me!"

"Especially considering how horrible you are at acting." Conan griped, rubbing his sore arm back and forth. Yep, there would be a few brown bruises there- maybe a purple one or two. Ayumi sucked in her cheeks. "I am not!"

"Yoshida-san, I have to agree with Edogawa-kun." Haibara smiled and walked past her, reaching inside of her coat's pocket for her wallet as she made her way to the counter. "Your performing capabilities leave a bit to be desired."

Ayumi huffed in frustration.

Conan chuckled under his breath and set a hand onto her shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Ayumi-chan. Not everybody in the world can act. That's why there are people who are actors and people who, well, aren't."

"Speaking of actors," Mitsuhiko's frantic voice rang high in their ears. They turned to see him looking at his watch on one wrist and holding the tickets with his other hand. "We should probably hurry! I just checked the tickets and we're an hour off! The movie starts in two minutes!"

* * *

"Well," Conan panted as he took his seat "at least we had the foresight to show up early."

"What we thought was early!" Ayumi sighed and checked her cellphone for the time before putting it on airplane mode. "Only a minute late. The commercials just started." Satisfied with the device, she discreetly slipped it away into her shirt so that he couldn't see. She'd brought her purse, but she always filled it to the brim with first-aid, seeing as the dead dropped like flies around Conan. It was better to be prepared for a worst case-scenario.

"That's always the way it works, isn't it?" Conan quipped, following suit as he turned off his phone entirely.

"It's a shame we couldn't all get seats together."

Conan shrugged and glanced at the Shounen Tantei Dan that sat spread all across the theatre. Genta sat next to Haibara, who would have been Mitsuhiko had the bookworm not been such a gentleman. Mitsuhiko took temporary residence almost at the end of the aisle across from Haibara and Genta. Ayumi tilted her head and took a sip of her soda. "He really worries me sometimes. He was easy when we were younger, but over the years he's just gotten worse." She'd somehow noticed his eyes on Mitsuhiko, which was strange since she wasn't the most observant of the bunch.

_That's probably Haibara's deal. _He would have said it out loud had he not thought Ayumi would slap him upside the head for it (she'd become awfully violent in her later years). _He lets her walk all over him. Not that I'm surprised. Sometimes that girl makes me think I have no word._

"If he doesn't shape up, he'll end up with somebody that'll do nothing but use him!"

Ayumi sounded like she was heating up, then, and her words held a slight slice to the end, harsh like a dagger. "Mitsuhiko-kun is smarter than that. He'll see that in a girl before it gets too serious."

"That doesn't mean he'll have the strength to leave!"

"You need to give him more credit," he drawled, taking a sip of his own soda "Mitsuhiko-kun is a lot stronger than you think."

"He could be." Ayumi wallowed, staring intently down at her lap. She had no clue what she was looking at. All that sat there was their popcorn and her soda. She glanced up to say something else, but found her neighbor glaring at the screen with a look of the upmost concentration. The commercials had just started not even a minute ago! There was no way the movie had already started! The moment she glanced at the screen, she saw it, too.

Ran's face was plastered all over the screen in a shot of a table full of photos.

The photos ranged anywhere from Ran standing behind some rising actor (Daichi Takashi, right?) with her arms wrapped around his neck (the two smiled like they hardly noticed the sun going down behind them- Ran had an engagement ring on her finger as big as her thumb's nail) to Ran, looking sick and pale, with a baby in her arms. The screen faded to black and so began the rest of the promo.

"How have you been doing since Ran-neechan got this role?"

Conan shrugged weakly. "I've been alright. It's been hard, having her so far away, but she's right. I'm old enough to take care of myself."

"Do you still talk to her?"

"Every night," he murmured. "She always sounds really tired, but she still tries to talk to me."

She could see him shift as though the topic was making him uncomfortable, so she dropped it. How could he still be so awkward about Ran with her? Nine years and he thought she wasn't over it yet?

She turned away. Well, she was! She was well over it! She had built a bridge not only over the river, but straight into the forest on the other side. She'd already taken up making a bridge all across the village she was so over it!

She really was over it…

* * *

The movie had been okay, really. The ending was disappointing, what with the couple going their separate ways and the other dying (he saw her one last time… she appeared like an angel and carried him to heaven with her).

Okay, it hadn't been disappointing. It was tear-jerker. The movie had made her cry so hard she'd bothered everyone who sat around her. Conan had even nudged her and called her a child, even though he had done it in a much more playful manner than she'd taken it as. Before the credits began rolling, she'd excused herself to go get air.

She wiped her face spastically, hiccuping and choking on her own tears and snot. _Gross… _It was times like these that she thanked whatever god that may be that she carried a handkerchief with her. Although, she admitted as she glanced down at the raggedy cloth, there were times where it would have been nice to carry more than one. _Disgusting. I've covered the entire thing and I'm still not done crying._

"Bahrou," a hand held out a newer-looking handkerchief "what was all that about? Couldn't you cry silently like everybody else?"

"Shut up!" Ayumi took the offered handkerchief and began wiping her face with it. "You are so mean sometimes, Conan-kun!"

He took the comment in stride. "Well I wouldn't have to be if you weren't so easy to cry!"

"Well it's been nine years and I'm still crying! What does that tell you about your methods?"

"I should be even meaner."

She paused with her head in the cloth.

"You're such a jerk."

He snorted and patted her on the back. The two sat there and leaned against the wall, bodies pressed against promotional pictures of movies nobody would see or movies everybody was super excited to buy a ticket to.

It took her a few more minutes, but Ayumi finally began to hold her tears. She'd already dirtied her handkerchief beyond repair. His didn't need the same treatment. She pulled it away from her face, folded it and went to put it in her purse. She had a perfect slot where it would fit.

"I'll just hold onto this and give it back to you."

"What, why?" He snatched the rag back.

Surprised, Ayumi backed away a few centimeters to get a better look at his face. "It- just look at it! It's got my snot and tears and spit all over it!"

Conan grunted. "So what? Why should I care? You're my friend. I'm not going to let your germs stop me from taking what's mine."

"Well then give it back!"

"What?"

"I was going easy on it because it was yours! If you don't care about my germs, then give it back I'm not done!"

"What? Bahrou! A handkerchief is made for things like that! You act like I can't clean it!" He said it so harshly, but it was gently that he opened it up again. "Hold still, will you? Maybe I can do this better since I can actually see your face."

Ayumi held her breath and he reached out with the fabric and began wiping her tears away.

"I can really do this myself."

"Shut up…"

She did as told and held still, pressing her face against his fingers to help the process (at least that was what she told herself).

"Hey, Ayumi-chan…"

She responded with what sounded shamefully like a purr.

"This is the place where it happened, isn't it?"

Ayumi made another questioning noise and pulled away from his hand to get a better look at him. Conan glared and ordered her to stay still.

"This is the place where you and I became friends for the first time."

Oh… He was talking about that.

"M… Mhm."

She tried to pull away again. "Ayumi-chan, stay still, will you?"

"I think I'm okay now, Conan-kun!"

"Well I know you're not!"

She continued to struggle to pull away, but although she had grown strong in her years, Conan was still a man and didn't know his own power when he grew irritable.

"I am! I'm just fine! I've stopped crying so I'm okay! See?"

"Just because you've stopped crying doesn't mean I can't see stuff on your face!"

"I can get it off myself can't I?"

"I'm just helping you so stay still!"

Ayumi pouted and crossed her arms. Conan glared right back at her.

"Besides, I was trying to have a conversation with you."

"About what?"

"About what happened here but if you're still sore about it…"

"I am not! I don't care! It was nine years ago! I'm over it!"

"Shut up, will you?! I was just going to say that I'm happy I said something!" Ayumi's wounded eyes met Conan's soft ones. Out of everything that'd ever come out of Conan's mouth, she wasn't expecting to hear that. Maybe she was waiting to hear something like "I still mean it" or "I'm sorry for hurting you like that" (not that he hadn't apologized before- he had apologized after that day a great many times).

He finally lifted the handkerchief away from her face and placed it in his back pocket.

"If I hadn't had the courage to tell you that day that I liked Ran-neechan, I don't think I would've let myself get as close to you as I am today." His face was beginning to heat up, and he was trying with great issue to hide it. "I just wanted to let you know that you're one of the greatest friends I've ever made, and above all else I cherish our friendship." Conan was failing to control his voice, but it was shaking and quivering like he was making a confession of love- which was ridiculous. What he had done was almost the exact opposite.

Ayumi smacked herself out of her reverie and smiled vehemently up at him (he stood a good two inches taller than her). "You know, I'm really glad you did, too, Conan-kun! I don't think I could ask for a better friend." She thought for a second then shivered and whispered. "Don't let Ai-chan hear me say that. She'd never tell you but she is the jealous type!"

Conan laughed and nodded and was about to say something else when his watch beeped. Usually he would shrug the beeping off and finish his conversation first, but when he looked down he found it was almost 22:30. "Ah! I've gotta get home! Ran-neechan should be calling any minute!" Ayumi sighed and nodded her head in understanding. Of course he needed to go home. She was hoping that they could all go out and grab ice-cream afterward…

Then again, she could hardly imagine anybody else in their group there. All she could make out in her little vision was the two of them sitting on a bench somewhere, chomping down on ice-cream cones. She could see herself getting strawberry all over her face. He'd laugh at her and she'd get upset and stuff her cone into his face- right where his nose was. He'd get mad and do something like drop his on her hair or stuff it down her back so she couldn't get to it. He'd sit there and do nothing but laugh at her until it either fell through the back of her shirt and onto the ground or got fished it out (and thrown at him).

Ayumi was so lost in her thoughts that she hardly heard him.

"Let the guys know I had to go. Thanks, Ayumi-chan."

Before she knew what was happening, his lips pressed against her cheek for only a second and he ran past her. She wasn't even turning around before he was waving goodbye and off on his way back home. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of the theater doors opening as a crowd filed out, and she could feel her friends come to stand behind her.

"Where is Conan-kun going?"

"Maybe he has homework to get to?"

"And you think he's going to do it at night? Please, he's already got his homework done. He always does."

"Are you confusing him for you, Tsuburaya-kun?"

"No!"

"Yes…"

_Maybe, just maybe… _Ayumi reached up to touch her cheek where he lightly kissed her- if she could even call it that. _Maybe I'm not as over him as I thought._


	2. Chapter 1 Arthropod

"_Eh… EHHHHH?!" Ayumi clutched her library book to her chest and hid behind the wall so that he wouldn't see her._

_It only took a few seconds for her to feel safe, and against her better judgment, she peeked her head to look into the window of the library. Conan was renting a Sherlock Holmes book- for the sixth time. She swore he'd set it down only to check it right back out again. The book missed its proper shelf, she was sure. Though, perhaps she was only being bitter and putting words in the book's mouth (that didn't sound right at all). No, it wasn't right for her to avoid him, and she knew it. He'd been honest with her, and she'd even gone as far as to thank him to let him know he'd made the right decision. Every action she was taking was going against what she'd said to him. He was probably so conflicted about it…_

… _If, that is, he cared._

_NO! Those thoughts kept bugging her and bugging her and they never went away! She guessed it was natural to feel that way. Even if he'd done the right thing, she still felt rejected and ignored. But he hadn't ignored her? She'd ignored him. She'd been ignoring him. Granted, he hadn't gone out of his way to make contact with her. He'd been giving her space. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Conan couldn't be blamed for what he was feeling. He was honest. He apologized (even when there was no need). He gave her room to breathe._

_What else could he do?_

"_Ayumi-chan!"_

"_Ah!"_

_She'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts, she'd completely lost track of time. He'd exited the library and seen her. What had she looked like, standing there against a wall like she was hiding? Did he know she was hiding from him?_

"_C-Conan-kun!"_

_To her surprise, there wasn't as much as a small speck of sadness in his eyes. There was no worry or apprehension. There was only a curiosity and mild amusement at seeing her there. "What are you doing just standing outside?"_

"_Ah, I was… I just really like this book so I was upset about giving it back."_

_Conan leaned over and tipped the book in her arms so that he could see the title. "The Study of Arthropods and How They Live?" Conan raised a questioning eyebrow. "That sounds more like something Mitsuhiko-kun would enjoy?"_

"_A-Ah, yes… I suppose it does. Well, he's the one that got me interested in them, you see!"_

"_Mmhm."_

"_I always found them creepy until he showed me a picture of a really cute one that he found!"_

"_Mmhm."_

"_I asked how it looked so cute and he told me to… look up this book! And I loved it!"_

"_Mmhm."_

_With every sentence she spoke, she could tell that he was less and less believing of her story, if he had believed her at the beginning at all. In all truth, she had used the book for a project at school quite recently and was so creeped out by the bugs inside the book she just wanted to be rid of it. She was surprised Conan hadn't called her out on her lies yet. He seemed just about ready to. His eyes were narrowed at her in that way he reserved for Genta and Mitsuhiko's fights or Haibara's witty remarks. He was annoyed with her._

"_You know, you could just check it back out again."_

"_Ah, no! It's okay! I… need to part ways with it, really. Other people might want to know…" she paused to recall a random fact from a random page. "Other people might want to know that arthropod means jointed leg."_

"_Right…" How much longer could he go on acting like he wasn't angry about her lying? She knew she would have called him out as soon as she thought him untruthful (he probably would have been able to talk his way out of it, though). "Why don't I go in with you?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_I said why don't I go in with you?"_

_He was challenging her. One more wrong move and he'd call her out on it. What else could she do but say yes?_

"_Um, okay?"_

"_Great!" All of the sudden he was smiling, but it still wasn't a real smile. It was an evil smile- a smile that said 'thought so'. He knew he'd trapped her._

* * *

"Conan-kun…" Ayumi tapped her pencil on the side of her textbook, her chin resting slouched against the palm of her other hand. "Stop distracting me."

"What?" He glanced up from the book he was reading. It was that same Sherlock Holmes book again, the one from even all those years ago- and the cover really didn't hide it. The binding was tearing apart and the title on the cover was smudging off and getting all over Conan's hands. He didn't seem to mind, though. He was at peace with the story behind those weathered covers. He was so at peace that he hardly noticed any of his surroundings (thus her distractions as he kept laughing and talking to the characters and making other more ominous noises).

_What I wouldn't give to be that book… _"If you're going to read, please do so without making so much noise. I'm having a hard time in this subject as it is."

"Then go somewhere quieter."

"We are in the middle of the library, Conan-kun. There should be no quieter place than this."

He waved off her concern and went back to reading. "I'll try to be quieter, okay? Does that help?"

She nodded and returned to studying as she had originally planned. Of course, even as he was reading silently, Conan still proved to be a distraction. _What is with me? It wasn't even this bad when I was seven! And now I can hardly go a second without looking at him._

She shut her eyes the tightest she could possibly shut them and let out a deep breath, shaking her head to and fro for good measure. _Okay, come on. Focus, Ayumi. You have a test on this on Friday._

* * *

She accomplished a little studying in the four minutes she could concentrate- a little. It was something, considering how close he was. His elbow was pressed against hers, almost so that their shoulders were touching. She couldn't help herself.

She stared at him from the side.

She could watch him in secret for just a little while. That way, he wouldn't notice.

He looked resentful, reading his book with a pout on his face. He wanted to openly illustrate his love for what he was reading if he was going to read it. At least, that was what she assumed. Even without all of his noises, though, he was still way too distracting.

She smiled and nudged her chair back, standing with her textbook and pen in hand.

The movement startled Conan and he turned his watchful (almost cynical) gaze turned upon her shifting figure. "Where are you going?"

"You were right. There are other places that are much quieter."

In an instant, he looked panicked as opposed to his previous contemptuous front. "What? I was being perfectly quiet!" If she looked, she could see a bit of his pride snap in his eyes. He'd felt he'd been doing fine! Ayumi let out a 'fufu' under her breath. She'd insulted him. "Not being perfectly quiet now, are you?"

Conan's eyes narrowed skeptically, as if skimming her over to find (what she could only guess was) a sign she was teasing. Ayumi shook her head and let it go. She'd done enough mocking for the moment. She had to save some room for later.

"That's not how you want to read that book though, is it?"

Conan cocked an eyebrow and leaned closer as if he was daring her to answer. "What do you mean?"

Ayumi shrugged. "You were so into it before. I figured I was the one who asked you to come along- you didn't have to be here. Why should I make you suffer?" When she realized he still looked somewhat disbelieving of her reasoning, she pouted. "Be thankful for my goodwill!"

"Bahrou, just sit down, will you?" He was still speaking to her, but his eyes were already on the book. He seemed conflicted, one half of him pleased and the other half stung. "Neh-uh! I'm going to go find a nice quiet spot to study in peace!"

With that, Ayumi turned on her heel and began scouting the aisles, hoping to find a different place to sit.

* * *

For a long while, she remained unappeased. There were plenty of seats open, but not at entirely empty tables. The thought of sitting down at a random table with an even more random stranger was not a fantasy she would have cared to fulfil. She'd been convinced she was going to find a seat less than a minute away from Conan. The library wasn't typically so full on Sunday. It made little sense to her as to why it seemed so full. Many cynical thoughts crossed her mind, such as the world working against her, everybody in tri-state area deciding it was Library Appreciation Day, or something as simple as a field trip constructed entirely to ruin her day of studying.

She wandered around the library blindly for what seemed like fifteen minutes. She had begun to count her steps to entertain herself in the meantime. Perhaps she needed to return to Conan and give up on her studying? He would laugh at her if she did that. It made the scenario something she wanted to avoid entirely. No, she needed to find a new seat at an empty table. She was set on that.

"Yoshida Ayumi?"

It was a stranger that called her name. When she turned around she hadn't recognized him, anyway. She just had the feeling she should have. He was a boy her age and about her height (the poor guy). His eyes were bright and wide. Just looking in their general direction gave Ayumi the feeling she'd seen a good future for herself and filled her with a familiar longing. He sat alone at a small round table, a rather large book in front of him. What an ambitious boy he must have been. "Sorry, we shared a class in grade school- first year, right? Do you remember?" She shook her head. "Ah, not really. Are you sure it was first year?"

"Definitely! I moved away after our first year in Teitan."

Oh yes, that was right! Shou Tamotsu had absolutely been in her class! She'd been familiar with him. She'd known he was there. She was never really close to him. They spoke but on occasion. He'd been a small boy- probably one of the smaller ones in her class- but she'd never forgotten he was there. Over the years she'd forgotten his face and his voice, but never his name or that he'd existed.

"Shou-kun!"

"Oh so now you remember me!" He wasn't laughing, but she could tell he wasn't insulted. He'd always been one to forgive easily. "I never forgot you, I promise! I just… didn't recognize you!" He tilted his head, eagerly awaiting an explanation. He feigned annoyance still, but he could hardly keep his lips in such a tight line and soon realized he was only torturing himself. It wasn't long before he was smiling as wide as she (vaguely) remembered. "You've just grown so much. You're so much taller, your voice is so much louder and you just came out of nowhere! Of course I was going to be confused at first!"

"You're making excuses."

"I am not!"

She was pouting again, arms around her textbook squeezing the two covers together almost enough to touch each-other. "Where have you been for the past nine years?"

"I've been traveling around, I suppose. I always knew I was going to come back here, though. I had to."

Ayumi blinked and approached his table with a pinch of enthusiasm in her step, filled with curiosity and quickly growing pounds of questions. He motioned for her to take a seat, a smile inching across his face from ear-to-ear. He was anticipating questions, and as vain as he was he was keen to answer them. As soon as Ayumi pulled up the seat, she fired them one-by-one.

"Where have you traveled?"

"Ah, we lived in Kitakyushu for a while, but I spent a good portion of my last three years going back and forth between Sendai, Akita and Sapporo."

"Wow, all across Japan and back!"

"Hey, we visited one end once, okay? I'm never going to that end ever again. It was way too far."

"It was way too far from what?"

"A girl."

"A girl?"

Shou nodded but provided no explanation. Instead he sat there and stared down at the book that laid flat on the table, open towards the end. Ayumi waited patiently, crossing her legs and uncrossing her legs. Eventually she audibly sighed and set her textbook on the table and began tapping her fingers against the wood. Shou was smirking to himself.

"You're doing it on purpose."

"I remember you hated it when I would do that."

"I still do."

"Obviously."

Ayumi made the move to slap his arm, to which he didn't budge. She wouldn't be able to hurt him. Even though she was a strong girl, it took a lot more than her to leave a mark on him. She realized his stone exterior wasn't softening anytime soon, so she let her arm return to its side.

"Who was she?"

"The love of my life."

"Eh? Weren't you seven, like me?"

"Well duh, what else age would I have been? I was in your class, dummy!"

He sighed and flipped back a page. He'd attempted to read while he was neglecting her interest, but he'd only skimmed and, while he had been confident he was still ready to turn to the next page, he quickly found that he wasn't and returned.

"Don't tell me you went all around Japan chasing that girl!"

"Not in Kitakyushu. That's where I met her."

Ayumi made a sound that begged more information, and he was not set to disappoint. "She was stubborn and cocky. She had to argue about everything and she always seemed to find just the right thing to say when it was the last thing you needed to hear. That was what was nice about her, though. She never lied. If there was anything anybody considered her it was honest- sometimes brutally so.

"She had this face she would make at everything she thought was pointless. It made me feel so stupid and she wore it all the time around me. I'd say something that I thought was genius and she would just make that face and that pride I felt just went away like I'd snapped. I really did fall for her, though. When she didn't make that face she was the prettiest girl you'd ever see. She could make me feel like I was high enough to touch the sun, sometimes, and I hated it because it only happened a few times a year and I missed it the rest of the time. There was this one day where she and I walked home from something (I can't remember what it was) and there was this setting sun and it looked like we could run and catch up to it. I mentioned something of the sort to her and before she even made the face I already felt like an idiot. Why would you chase the sun? Of course I knew that it was in space and that no matter how fast I ran to catch up with it I never would. I knew she knew that, too, which is why I was so scared. She didn't make that face, though. She just kind of looked at me and laughed. Then she agreed with me like what I'd said wasn't silly." Shou shrugged and began flipping back and forth between the pages he'd been reading. He acted bored of the topic, but inside he was closer to crying than anything. "She left one summer, though and never came back. She told me she was somewhere up north."

He explained that he didn't know how he'd done it, but he'd convinced his father, whom he'd been living with up until he was around fourteen, to let him go look for her as long as he'd kept up his studies. She'd supposed that was what he had been doing and that she'd interrupted him. "I visited all of those places just to look for her. I'd watched the sunset with other people but it just wasn't the same." She began feeling guilty and shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. "Did you ever find her?"

"No, but I will." He visibly brightened up and closed the book and pushed it so that he could lean closer to her over the table, suddenly intrigued with the subject matter. "I got a push in the right direction from a friend of hers I met. He said she'd come here for something like an acting job."

Ayumi glanced at the book and raised an eyebrow. As opposed to one huge book as she originally thought, it was a giant binder that consisted of nothing but early magazines and more current ones. Was he looking for her?

"She hasn't gotten really big, yet, but she will. She's got the attitude of a diva, that's for sure!"

"Why do you like her, then?"

She mumbled, resting her chin on the back of her hand as her other was used to emphasize her point. He leaned back in his seat and tapped his chin several times in deep thought. His eyebrows formed a crease and his lips opened and closed repeatedly as if trying to form new words. It wasn't even a minute before he answered with a definitive "I don't know".

He didn't know? How could he not know why he liked a person? It wasn't like enjoying the taste of a food and not knowing why or having fun with a hobby. It was another person he was investing in. "What? There has to be something you like about her!"

"Her."

"I mean something more specific!"

"I can't be any more specific! I just like her- all of her!"

Ayumi huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She guessed that was fair. She couldn't really explain what it was she liked about Conan. There was no one thing that made him the one. Everything he said and did just seemed perfect, right down to his arrogant "I'm smarter than you all" moods and his demands for silence every now and then in the tiny space of their club-room. What would she have said had she been Shou? The same thing, probably.

"How have you been, though, Ayumi-chan? Still after Conan-kun?"

"NO!"

She stood and slammed her hands on the table. The impact made a loud smacking sound and nearly broke the table, as weak as its legs were. Although the table remained distant, there were a few table with nearby inhabitants that glanced (or glared) over in her direction and hissed at her to 'shhhh'. Ayumi immediately took her seat again, facing an all-knowing smirking Shou.

"Maybe… but it's only started up again recently. I haven't felt like this about him in a long time. I mean, I've dated other guys before. I liked them. There was nothing wrong with them! They just weren't…"

"Him."

"N-No!"

"Y-Yes!"

Shou mocked her stumble over speech and poked her shoulder sardonically. "Let me guess, every guy you've dated went from one extreme to the other. You've dated a straight-up nerd and you've dated a full-on bad boy."

Yes, yes she had. While all of the Shounen Tantei Dan had been less than willing to accept her beau, Conan especially had been upset with her for those three weeks. He'd gone as far as to not eat lunch in the club-room a week into the relationship. All the while, though, he'd never said a word about him to her. She just knew, because as soon as she broke up with him (she couldn't even remember why she'd done that- he was a loving guy when he wasn't cutting class or punching random guys who pissed him off in the face) Conan had started calling her again and stopped ignoring her texts.

"You've been from one end of the swimming pool to the other and all around the island, but none of them have ever compared to Conan, right?"

Ayumi nodded. Maybe…

* * *

"_Conan-kun, we can really go, now."_

"_Ah, but I was going to show you to that mystery book you were asking me about this week!"_

"_Really, it's fine! I should be getting home."_

"_Home, already?" Conan was frowning, but there was a smirk behind every word he said. He'd had her locked in a cage with the key in his mouth. If she was going to get out, she needed to get bit._

"_I've been out for a while."_

"_Doing what?"_

"_Looking for the library."_

"_You got lost? I should help you find your way back, then."_

"_No, I found my way here with a map. I should be able to pull it up, again."_

"_A map? Where did you get a map from?"_

"_I got it from the internet."_

"_Ah…"_

_He still wasn't buying it- any of it. There wasn't anything she could do to make him believe her; she was lying for real. There was no way to fake a lie and make it the truth, and if there was, she was too young and dumb to know how._

"_Ayumi-chan, I think we need to talk."_

_She exhaled. She'd known the exchange was coming. She could only hope that she was prepared to have it._

* * *

"You're wrong. I liked every one of those guys as much as I liked Conan-kun in the first year! Even if what you're saying is true, what else could I have done? He rejected me! It's not like I had the option of just waiting around for him to like me back! Youth is fleeting, you know!"

"You say that but all this time I think you've still been waiting for him."

Ayumi readied an argument in her head, one that would blow Shou out of the seat and across the library leaving destruction in its wake, but the first word never left her lips as an irritated Conan came 'round the corner of a bookshelf, staring her down with murder in his eyes.

"Oi, oi! What was that back there? I was being quiet wasn't I?"

"You say that, but you finished the book again, didn't you? It took you an awful long time to come and find me..."

He choked on air and placed the book on the table she and Shou (who was hastily standing and moving away) had been sharing. "S-Shut up, Bahrou! You haven't even been studying, have you? Your book isn't even open!"

"I- I got distracted!"

"You left me alone so you could go be distracted somewhere else? I think you just didn't want to be near me…"

In the corner of her eyes, she could see Shou disappearing behind the walls that lead to the bathrooms. That slimy little weasel! She couldn't say she blamed him, though. She'd run, too, in his position.

"It wasn't like that!"

"I'm so sure."

Ayumi grimaced and picked up her textbook, weaving her arms along the front cover. "Fine, okay? Let's go leave and hang out or something."

"You need to study though!"

"Well obviously I'm not getting that done today, am I?"

Conan put up no fight and followed her out the front of the store, trailing her footsteps from behind like a duckling.

* * *

"_Ayumi-chan, I told you that I'm sorry."_

"_I know."_

"_This isn't fair. I still want to be your friend."_

"_I know."_

"_The only reason I told you was because I had faith that you'd accept it."_

_She remained silent._

"_I trusted you with that secret, Ayumi-chan."_

"_I'll never tell anybody."_

"_I didn't just trust you to keep it, Ayumi-chan. I knew you would do that. I trusted you would get over it. Was my trust misplaced?"_

"_No!"_

_Ayumi went from shuffling her feet awkwardly in the dirt to an almost aggressive stance. She was sure her voice was an octave high, but she was so close to crying that she couldn't help it. "I'm a big girl, Conan-kun! I can do it! It just hurts seeing you, is all!" She pointed at her chest where she was sure her heart was. "I'm hurting right here!" She made a fist and pounded it against her chest. "It's pounding and it's pounding every time I see you but I know it's wrong that it does so I try to stop it and it hurts!" Even though the water in her eyes was burning her line of sight, she blinked furiously and refused to let them collect. She couldn't cry because that would only prove his point. "I'm staying away from Conan-kun for just a little while, okay? It's just a little while so I can breathe around you and not wanna cry! Can't I do that?" She kicked a rock to his side, to which he didn't respond at all. "Am I not allowed to do that?!"_

"_Of course you're allowed to do that, Ayumi-chan."_

"_Then why won't you leave me alone?!"_

"_I'll never leave you all alone." He almost sounded romantic. Almost. "Your friends are my friends so this must be a pretty hard time for you." He shrugged uncomfortably, but her struggle to hold back tears was beginning to wear her thin and she couldn't quite see his face. "I know you wouldn't want to tell them, what with my secret being involved and all so…"_

"_No, that isn't what I want at all! I would be a horrible friend!"_

"_And I'd be a horrible friend to let you avoid me. I'm the only other person that knows what you can't say."_

"_I can't talk to you about you!"_

"_Sure you can. Just pretend I'm somebody else, okay?"_

"_No! I can't do it! That's really weird."_

"_Yes, I suppose it is." Conan chuckled under his breath. "But at this point, I don't know what else to do."_

* * *

He was walking beside her, then, in silence. Ayumi wanted to say something, but she didn't want to open her mouth. There was something about the atmosphere that chilled her spine. _He's your best friend, Ayumi! Just say something! Say anything!_

"So, jointed leg…"

"Huh?"

"That book you tried to play off as something you liked back then, remember? You said that Arthropod translates into jointed leg."

"What? Conan-kun how do you remember that? It was years ago!"

"You remember it, too, then?"

"Well…"

Of course she remembered it. It had only been a couple of weeks since he'd rejected her at the time, maybe three. It was that day that their relationship started down the path they were on currently. Ayumi waved him off with the hand closest to him so that he would get the message loud and clear.

Stop talking about it.

"You know I've always thought of you and I that way- a jointed leg."

"What? What are you saying, Conan-kun? You're sounding stupid!"

"Shut up and let me talk, will you? You've gotten so loud these days…"

She had half the mind to smack him.

"Even when it got really hard for us when I told you about Ran-neechan," he never paused when he said her name anymore, as he always used to sound like he was forgetting the 'neechan' at the end the way he would pause "after you talked to me about it you became more flexible with me and our relationship. From then on I've been able to tell you everything" he seemed conflicted when he said that for some reason "and no matter what I said you'd never bat an eye. You just became more and more bendable each time, like a jointed leg".

"Breathe, Conan-kun."

"Shut up. I'm trying to say that I really appreciate you and I'm glad that you chose to stick around."

"Well, how could I not? You said it yourself- we have the same circle of friends. My friends are your friends."

"Most of the time."

"What do you mean?"

Conan remained silent, glancing away from her and into the street like something passing had caught his eye. "Conan-kun, what do you mean?"

Then it hit her.

"Conan-kun, are you talking about Ken'ichi-kun?"

Just the name elicited a loud groan from her petulant partner.

"We broke up last year! Why are you still so mad about him?"

"I'm not still mad about him!" Conan jumped and twisted his head like an angry snake in her direction.

"Well you're not acting like it, and you getting offensive isn't helping your argument!"

Conan rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets.

"You know, you can tell me how you feel about my boyfriends, too, not just your secrets. Just because you're not my boyfriend doesn't mean you can't hate my choices. Say something next time, will you?"

Conan remained silent and aloof, socially intolerable for Ayumi by that point. It was fine. If he wasn't going to talk she wasn't going to make him.

* * *

"_Are you feeling any better?"_

_An hour later and she still was fighting back tears. The ice-cream he'd forced into her hands hadn't made it any better._

_She felt pitied._

_She wasn't Ran. She never would be- but that didn't mean that she needed to be handled with tender hands! How dare he act like she wasn't being strong! She was being a million times stronger than Ran could ever be!_

_(That was going a bit far)._

_Ayumi quietly sniffled and turned away from him, glaring off to the side as they walked down the park's path. She muttered out a weak but harsh "no"._

_Conan sighed beside her, at a loss. What could he possibly do to quell her anger?_

"_Ayumi-chan, could you please just talk to me? I've tried everything and I don't know what you want me to do."_

"_I want you to like me."_

"_I can't do that, Ayumi-chan…" He was trying to be understanding, but his voice came out rougher than what he'd meant to sound._

"_I know…"_

"_I would but you're just not Ran."_

"_I know!" She was standing toe-to-toe with him in an instant, a glare that could rival the angriest woman. Conan shrieked and took a step back, but she pushed closer. "I know that I'm not Ran-neechan! I know that I'm not an older woman! I know that I'm weak, but Conan-kun I am not weak enough to need your sympathy! I am not young enough to be babied!"_

"_I-I'm not babying you!"_

"_Yes you are! Ice-cream and offering to talk? I don't know how you handle Ran-neechan when she cries but-!"_

"_Ayumi-chan!" Conan was all of a sudden not so eager to succumb to her or her emotions. "That's a little too far!"_

"_Why can't you defend me like that?! Why can't you get so angry about me and why can't you get jealous when I'm around other boys too much?! Why can't you think that I'm strong, too?!" She really was crying, then, and she'd forced the ice-cream back into his hands. Remnants of the melting dessert stuck to her hand even as she wiped her eyes that seemed to have become waterfalls. She wouldn't open her eyes to see him or to regret the frozen food under her eyelids. There was no plus-side to the situation- none at all. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted him to leave her alone. It wasn't his fault, it really wasn't. He'd done nothing but the right thing and all she'd given him was heartache. Even though she knew all of that, she was still angry at him._

"_Go away, Conan-kun! Go away! I wish I'd never met you! This hurts so badly!"_

_She heard him exhale and walk to a trashcan, presumably to toss the cone she was not going to eat by this point. When he returned he pulled her into him- just enough so that he could get to her face. She felt him drag a napkin over her skin where she'd pressed her ice-cream-soaked hand. He didn't say anything._

"_I can do this myself! Go away!"_

"_Stop moving. I'm not going to give up so you can just quit making my job harder."_

"_Your job?! Taking care of me is your job, now?!"_

_He groaned. "That's not what I meant."_

"_Leave me alone!"_

_She said all of those things to him- anything she could think of- but he never backed up and he never stopped dragging the napkin over her face. She was sure he'd gotten rid of the ice-cream long ago. He was just wiping her tears._

_Eventually he pulled the napkin away and she opened her eyes to find that she wasn't face-to-face with him anymore. He was holding her in his arms and staring at her back waiting, so there she broke down into his shoulder, weeping uncontrollably._

"_I like Conan-kun! I like Conan-kun a lot! I just want him to like me, too!"_

"_I'm sorry."_

"_I like you!"_

"_I know."_

"_I really, really like you!"_

"_I know."_

"_Conan-kun!"_

"_I know. I'm sorry."_

* * *

"I don't like him. I've never liked him. Don't ever date anybody like him again. Date Mitsuhiko-kun or Genta-kun for all I care. Just never go near his type for the rest of your life."

Ayumi looked to her side, surprised by Conan's sudden confession. "Ken'ichi-kun?"

"And stop calling him by his first name! It's Yuuki-kun, okay?! He's not your boyfriend anymore, is he? No! So stop it!"

When he finally had the courage to look at her face, he found awestruck eyes blinking rapidly back at him, her tiny mouth hanging open.

Then she started giggling uncontrollably and had to cover her mouth with one hand.

"You… you… oh my god, you really hated him, didn't you?"

"O-Oi!"

"Oh, that's great! You really were avoiding me those three weeks, weren't you?"

"N-No, I was avoiding him and you were constantly with him so…"

"It was the only way I knew to keep him out of trouble!"

"Well then maybe he should find somebody else who makes trouble and not a detective like you! You're way too good for a guy like him, Ayumi-chan!"

"Conan-kun, stop! My sides! My sides are killing me!"

"What are you laughing at me for?! I'm being serious!"

"I know you are! That's why I'm laughing!"

"Ayumi-chan!"


End file.
